Geolocate IP: How To Use In Threat Intelligence And Cybersecurity?

In today’s digital era, something close to a billion people use the internet every day to communicate, access information, and more. However, as use of the internet is increasing, cyberattacks, phishing scams, hacks, and leaks are also dramatically increasing. For instance, Facebook – now Meta – faced a massive data breach in 2019, and later in 2021. The stolen personal information of millions of users was published online. To fight against these data breaches and cyber-attacks, businesses and governments use IP geolocation, along with several other cybersecurity tools. Geolocate IP means using the IP addresses of users to identify their location.

But how does IP geolocation work, and how can you use it in threat intelligence and cybersecurity? Read on to find out.

How Does IP Geolocation Work?

• How Can You Use IP Geolocation In Threat Intelligence And Cybersecurity?
• Blocking Suspicious And Malicious IP Addresses
• Prevent Website Scraping By A Proxy Tool
• Fight Against DDoS Attacks
• Prevent Online Fraud And Identity Theft
• What Is The Best Way To Obtain IP-Based Geolocation Information?
• Geolocate IP
• Wide Coverage
• Security Module

How Does IP Geolocation Work?

Every device connected to a private network or the internet is given a unique number or address, called an IP address. These addresses are helpful in identifying electronic devices on the internet. The IP in IP address stands for Internet Protocol. An IP address is essentially a series of numbers separated by a decimal, such as 192.124.2.

IP geolocation means finding the physical location of internet-connected electronic devices using their IP addresses. IP geolocation data usually include geographic location data, such as country, city, state, latitude, and longitude. An advanced IP location finder also provides time zone, area code, and currency information related to the requested IP address.

How Can You Use IP Geolocation In Threat Intelligence And Cybersecurity?

In the past, businesses mostly used IP geolocation information of website visitors for content personalization. For example, by using visitors’ city, county, latitude, and longitude data, businesses can show more relevant product offers to users from different locations. Similarly, they can display product prices in their currency, translate pages into their language, and more.

However, businesses and even governments have realized the importance of geolocate IP data in cybersecurity and threat intelligence. While preventing cyberattacks is a challenging task, geolocate IP can be very effective in fighting such attacks.

Threat intelligence refers to the data or knowledge that allows businesses and governments to identify, mitigate or prevent cyberattacks. It helps organizations understand the threats they currently have and will have in the future, and build effective defense mechanisms. One of the elements of strategic cyber threat intelligence is to collect location data, such as the locations, from where the attacks are originating.

Here are a few use cases of geolocate IP in threat intelligence and cybersecurity:

Blocking Suspicious And Malicious IP Addresses

You can use IP-based geographical location data for website traffic filtering. For instance, if you run a business in Europe and usually get requests from within this region, getting requests from IPs from outside Europe would be suspicious. You can block requests from such IPs to prevent scams. Similarly, you can block IP addresses from countries with high fraud and scam activity.

It goes without saying, you should immediately block any malicious IP or an IP address coming from a hotspot for fraud. You can use an advanced IP location lookup tool like an IP address REST API to identify and block such IPs. These tools provide a database consisting of malicious IPs.

Unfortunately, cyber thieves and criminals have found ways to change their domain names using VPNs and proxies. A proxy serves as a bridge between users and the website they’re visiting. Similarly, a protect yourself with vpn allows users to connect to servers based in a particular country. For this reason, businesses should use a reliable IP geolocation API that updates its geolocation database regularly.

Prevent Website Scraping By A Proxy Tool

There was a time when people used to ethically scrape data on the web. Today, hackers and scammers use proxy tools to scrape valuable data from websites or web applications. They have even found ways to avoid traffic filtering using multiple proxies. However, advanced geolocate IP address APIs can identify if an IP address is associated with a proxy.

Fight Against DDoS Attacks

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. A DDoS attack refers to a cybercrime where the attacker sends massive internet traffic to an organization’s server. This prevents users from accessing the company’s website and services.

Powerful IP geolocation APIs can assess security threats originating from risky IPs. They can identify IPs from where bad traffic is coming during a DDoS attack. You can close your network to such IP-based locations and block these IPs to fight against these attacks.

Prevent Online Fraud And Identity Theft

You can also battle online fraud using location information obtained from an IP address. For example, if a hacker uses your card to make an online purchase, IP geolocation can reveal the location associated with the IP address. Your card provider can inform you and the merchant of suspicious activity if the purchase is made from one country and your card is registered in another.

What Is The Best Way To Obtain IP-Based Geolocation Information?

Today, several IP location lookup tools are available, but it’s crucial to choose a tool that provides accurate location data and has all the features needed for threat intelligence. Usually, a reliable IP geolocation API provides all these features. For example, ipstack, an advanced IP lookup API, offers the following features:

• Geolocate IP

Ipstack uses highly reliable data sources, such as large ISPs (Internet Service Providers). This allows the API to provide precise location data, such as country, region, city, latitude, and longitude.

• Wide Coverage

The ipstack API covers over 2 million unique locations in 200,000 cities worldwide and is capable of providing IPv4 and IPv6 data. This way, the API can provide the location of almost any IP address from anywhere in the world.

• Security Module

This feature allows users to identify risky IPs. You can assess risks and threats originating from certain IPs before they harm your website or web application. The API specifically returns a security object that contains valuable information, such as:

• Whether the specified IP address is using a proxy
• Type of proxy
• Crawler detection
• Crawler name and type
• Threat level
• Threat type

In addition to these features for threat intelligence and cybersecurity, the API also offers several other features for businesses.

Are you ready to track geolocate IPs for enhanced cybersecurity? Get the free API key and get started with ipstack today!